“Don’t forget I had to do it on the old (lever) voting machines,” Jarjura told Hearst Connecticut Media days after Moore’s loss to Mayor Joe Ganim last Tuesday in a Democratic primary. “We had to train people if you wanted to do a write in vote how to do it. And that’s what we spent the entire general election campaign doing.”

Jarjura’s name has been cited by several Moore supporters in recent days as an example for her to follow — and to try and lift their own post-Democratic Party primary loss spirits.

In fact sources had initially said Moore was preparing to announce the write-in strategy Thursday morning. Instead her campaign that evening called for a state and federal investigation of alleged absentee ballot abuse — though they offered no evidence.

According to Connecticut elections officials, Moore has until Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. to register as a write-in contender with the Secretary of the State. She would be bound by the campaigning and fundraising rules governing regular candidates.

Jarjura said he had not been contacted by Moore or anyone affiliated with her for advice. He recalled four years ago hearing from then-Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch after the incumbent lost the 2015 primary to Ganim, tried and failed to make November’s ballot as a third party candidate, and briefly considered the write-in option.

Jarjura in 2005 famously handed out pencils at the polls.

“And my name printed on every one of them,” he said. “So we figured when they (voters) got in the machine, they could have the spelling of the name very easily with them.”

No question a write-in campaign would need to be competently run and well-organized, something that Moore’s primary bid seemed to struggle with. On the one hand she and her supporters gathered the 2,500 signatures necessary to force Tuesday’s primary with Ganim.

But then the campaign failed spectacularly when it thought it had collected the 207 signatures to get her on November’s general election ballot, announced the news August 21, only to learn on Tuesday that they had fallen short.

Keep supporters, target undecideds

Jarjura said he faced four “credible” opponents, which he thought was an advantage because they would split the anti-Jarjura vote.

“We thanked God we had a crowded field,” Jarjura said.

In constrast, while Bridgeport’s mayoral campaigns have been crowded in recent years, only Ganim and Republican John Rodriguez have lines on the November ballot. That could benefit Moore, Jarjura said.

Just over 10,300 of Bridgeport’s 46,500 registered Democrats participated in Tuesday’s primary. Moore also has 24,000 unaffiliated voters to appeal to, and perhaps even some of the city’s 4,300 Republicans if any prefer her over their own, sorely outnumbered mayoral nominee.

“The key factor will be the unaffiliated vote,” Jarjura said.

But having lost the primary to Ganim, Moore also has the continued, and perhaps even greater, challenge of raising money. The incumbent had already bested her in that area, amassing $325,025 to Moore’s $127,390.

And as a write-in candidate Moore might lose some supporters to Ganim’s call for Democrats and their traditional allies to now unite. In 2015, for example, 13 building trades unions who backed Finch in the primary, afterward supported Ganim, rather than follow Finch’s lead and endorse petition candidate Mary-Jane Foster in that November’s general election.

Jim Lohr, a deputy director with the carpenters, told Hearst that he and his members were “waiting to see what (Moore) decides.

“We’ll have to have a discussion and figure out where we go,” Lohr said. He did note a write-in bid “seems like a pretty tough thing to do.”

Jarjura admitted he is a Ganim supporter, but said he understood why Moore would pursue a write-in candidacy given “she did so well” on Tuesday.

“What cuts against that is she probably has woken up the (Ganim) administration” ahead of November, Jarjura said.

Former Town Clerk and Democratic activist Alma Maya backed Ganim in 2015, but ran this year with Moore for City Clerk.

Maya said she is “conflicted” about Moore’s write-in chances.

“I think it’s a really hard thing to do, especially in Bridgeport where people are overwhelmingly Democrat,” Maya said. “And I think comparing yourself to Jarjura is difficult. Michael had been mayor and was running for re-election. She has never been mayor before. It’s like apples to oranges.”

But, Maya noted, “She may need to give it a shot. Maybe she’s going to be the one to break the mold.”

Kelvin Ayala, a downtown business owner who helped Moore’s primary campaign, was enthusiastic about the prospect of her write-in campaign. Ayala said Moore “woke up” Bridgeport residents who want a credible alternative to Ganim.

“Here’s the reality. We’re consistently told what we can’t do in Bridgeport because ‘that’s just the way it is’,” Ayala said. “The people are tired of being told what we cannot do. We know how to read and write. We’ll just write a name in.”